both me and my twin (link and dark link [mix between OoT and TP design]) have the metal sword you talked about in the first post. Although we can't draw them in the con space, we are allowed to for out-door photo shoots and get them re-tied when we re-ender the con space. They are very good swords!
Good to hear a testimonial!
I'm glad it wasn't too much of a burden to save them for outdoor shoots. It's so much nicer having actual metal.
Incidentally, we should start looking into a Zelda photoshoot and arranging to have at least part of it outside, for that very reason.
Yeah Sheath's are pretty hard to find accurate
If you need one that matches a sword, and it doesn't come WITH the sword, then you pretty much have to commission it. I'll see about it for next con, but if I can't commission an Ordon sheath without spending more than the cost of the Master Sword and matching sheath combined, I might not bother. Unlike regular props, a sheath has to be carefully made to fit the sword.
As for the indoor vs outdoor... Don't you have to have your weapon/prop peacebonded at all times as long as you're a convention attendee? Otherwise you CAN get in trouble with the local law.
Transporting it - if publicly - will be different. You'd need to have a blanket or bag to wrap it in so it doesn't look like you're wielding it to harm people.
To my understanding, local law allows you to bear unsharpened stage steel in public as long as you don't look like you're threatening anybody with it. The rule about "no stage steel in the hotel" is a business decision on the part of the hotel, probably to keep regular hotel guests from feeling threatened.
It's too bad the DoubleTree doesn't have a garden, like Seattle's Downtown Convention Center. When people are posing with weapons in the garden, it's pretty obvious they're only there for the photo ops.